ANBU Mask
by Lady Kementari
Summary: Kakashi meets someone he thought was dead. Rated for gore, some sexual content and a bit of yaoi.


Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for Takeshi. Woot.

Summary: Kakashi meets someone he thought was dead. Rated for gore, some sexual content and a bit of yaoi.

Kakashi saw the mask first. A pure snow white, it caught the afternoon's golden light, reflecting the rays. The mask was completely blank; no markings adorned its smooth surface. Squinting, Kakashi realized it wasan ANBU mask, one that had been sanded down and then polished, all patterns erased.

Slowly, the rest of Kakashi's vision cleared, and he could see the rest of the person. He was wearing the standard ANBU uniform, kept spotlessly clean and neat. However, as Kakashi gave it a closer look, he could see that it was an old uniform. Small patches dotted it here and there, the tiny skillful stitches almost invisible.

Who was this ANBU? Kakashi's mind seemed fuzzed, and his vision blurred at the edges. He wondered if he had been drugged. The last thing he remembered was running through the woods, only a mile or so away from Kohona, exhausted from a mission.

"Who are you?" he asked hoarsely.

A warm baritone voice replied, "Why Kakashi, you don't recognize me? I recognize you." There was a hint of mirth in the soft voice.

Kakashi just shook his head. The man reached up and pulled off his mask.

Kakashi sharply drew in his breath, his world seeming to stop.

This ANBU was flawlessly, impossibly, and terrifyingly beautiful. Fine white skin was untouched by scars, burns, or blemishes of any kind. His hair was long, a rich cinnamon brown, pulled back into a ponytail that fell to his shoulders. Large and liquid brown eyes stared down at him. They were fringed with long dark lashes; golden lights seemed to glint in their dark depths.

After a blink, the recognition came in a wrenching rush.

"Takeshi…" Kakashi whispered, at a lost for words. He swallowed and tried again. "Takeshi, you're supposed to be dead." Dead because of Kakashi, dead for the past four years.

Takeshi had been a young member of ANBU, a member of Kakashi's team when the copy-nin had been ANBU captain. He had hero-worshiped Kakashi almost to the point of obsession. Kakashi had met this infatuation with cool distance, the wound Obito's death had left was still raw; he had not yet buried it deep in his heart. He simply could not bring himself to reach out, to invest the emotional energy required for the interaction. And so he had basically and cruelly ignored Takeshi, too wrapped up in his own pain to care. Looking back, Kakashi could see how deeply he hurt this young man who had so desperately wanted to please.

Takeshi, overall, was an excellent ANBU. He was smart and could think in three different directions at once, while dodging kunai, shuriken, and jutsus. But then again, that was a requirement for being a member of ANBU. His area of expertise was genjutsu and poisons. One of his illusions had actually fooled Kakashi, when he was not using his Sharingan. He had been one of Kohona's best and brightest. His one fault, however, was to underestimate his enemies, and overestimate himself.

Kakashi closed his eyes in remembered pain. There was a mission gone wrong. Kakashi's team had been surrounded by the group of missing nins that they were supposed to kill. Takeshi had drawn them off, sacrificing himself for the sake of the team. Takeshi's name was carved on the memorial stone.

"Surprised?" Takeshi asked. "And I suppose you're wondering about this face too…" He gently outlined his jaw with one slender finger. "Well, I can't go around looking like this, now can I? Abruptly, Takeshi dropped the illusion covering his face, and Kakashi could see why Takeshi disguised his face.

One half was slagged with burns, giving his face a disquieting lopsided appearance. One eye was completely gone, leaving behind a large network of scars. A thick scar crossed across his lips and down to his jaw. Nothing remained of his right ear; it had been completely torn off. Long white scars ran through his scalp, leaving large bald patches. He smiled, a horrible twisting of his already ruined face, a ghastly parody of joy.

And then it was gone as quickly as it came.

Takeshi smiled again, a beautiful heart melting grin that lit his entire face. Gracefully, he knelt beside Kakashi and ran his hand up the other man's arm.

"I suppose I should thank you for the why I am now…" Suddenly, the hand tightened convulsively on Kakashi's arm, mashing flesh to bone. Kakashi winced. Takeshi drew Kakashi close, his breath hissing across Kakashi's face.

"You fucking bastard, you goddamn fucking asshole. You left me behind. You left me. Left me…"

Takeshi abruptly let go and Kakashi fell back to the ground.

Kakashi knew he had to get away. The boy that Takeshi had once been was gone; all that was left was this deranged man. When Takeshi dropped him, Kakashi immediately threw a punch, planning to then use his momentum to flip over Takeshi.

It didn't quite work the way he wanted it to. Despite his brain telling his arm to move with its usual lightening-quickness, his arm slowly moved towards Takeshi, who easily blocked Kakashi's fist, and threw it back to the ground.

A sneer twisted his features. "Reflexes not up to speed Kakashi? I poisoned you. There's not a damn thing you can do." A smug little smile crossed his face, complacent in his victory.

Kakashi told himself that screaming and swearing would not get him anywhere. Instead, he hid his boiling emotions under a tight smile. Taking a deep breath, he started feeling for the small pocket in the inside of his sleeve. There was a tiny senbon in there, coated with the antidotes of many poisons. Kakashi prayed that what ever Takeshi could be fixed with that little needle.

In normal circumstances, Kakashi could find the pocket and remove the senbon in less than ten seconds. But his movements were clumsy and uncoordinated, fingers scrabbling with the stitching. He had to keep Takeshi distracted, before he killed him. If he could just keep him talking, it would give him time.

"What are you planning on doing Takeshi?" Kakashi asked. Takeshi looked sharply at him.

"Why making the man who did this to me pay."

'Shit.' Kakashi thought. 'That probably wasn't a good question to ask.' His brain felt like a mush, hazed from the drug.

A brilliant grin lit Takeshi's face.

"Yes," he muttered. "That could work…" Suddenly, his hands flew into a series of seals, too fast for Kakashi's muddled mind. Instead, he focused on removing the senbon. He found the pocket, and just managed to get it out, when it slipped from his fingers and Takeshi finished his seals.

Kakashi did not have time to uncover his Sharingan before the genjutsu hit him full force.

He was in a clearing, surrounded by six men and women, each sporting a variety of weapons and hitai'ate. Missing nin. Another unpleasant revelation: his arms were cruelly bound behind him, and his legs were likewise restrained. The ropes were studded with something sharp, and he could feel the blood running down his hands.

One of the nins came forward, a tough woman with a scratched headband identifying her as a former mist-nin. A wakizashi was strapped across her back, her hair cropped short, and her headband slung carelessly around her temple. Her eyes were an iron grey, cold and closed. She leered down at Kakashi, kneeling beside him.

"Pretty one we got, eh?" She said, smirking up at one of the men.

"Not too scarred…" her hand slowly slid up his thigh, and cupped his crotch.

"Later, Hiroko." A man, presumably the leader, said. He glared at Kakashi.

"This fucker killed five of us. He's got to pay." Hiroko rolled her eyes.

"Shit Kiyoshi, just because he killed your personal fuck-buddy doesn't mean the rest of us have to pay…" The man moved with startling speed, grabbing Hiroko by her throat and slamming her against a tree.

"I didn't ask for your permission," he snarled. "I asked you to follow my orders. Got it?" The woman glared, but nodded. He released her and walked away without a backward glance. He stopped by Kakashi, and gripped his hair, pulling his head back.

"Hmph…We've got to do something about this pretty face…" He traced the line of Kakashi's jaw with one blunt finger. Suddenly, with that alarming speed, he drew back his fist and smashed it into Kakashi's face. Kakashi could feel his nose break, his head snapped back and he fell to the ground. His blood flowed in a thick stream into his mouth, hot, salty, running over the sides of his face to soak in the ground. Kakashi struggled to sit back up; the missing nin laughed at his efforts.

Kiyoshi smirked at Kakashi, and walked to the fire nearby. He drew a kunai, from his holster and held it in the fire until it glowed cherry-red. Slowly he walked towards Kakashi.

"Somebody hold his legs down," he called behind him. One of the women moved to do so, and Kiyoshi stepped down on Kakashi's chest, foot grinding down. Leaning over, he held the heated kunai a bare inch above Kakashi's right eye. Kakashi reflexively closed his eyes and tried to move his head away. An iron grip grabbed his jaw to prevent him from moving. The man smiled and slowly, lightly, ran the red-hot kunai across Kakashi's eyelid.

An involuntary shriek was torn from Kakashi's throat, and he arched his back from the agony, pushing against the foot pressing down on him. He clamped his jaws shut, struggling against the pain.

"We got a screamer it seems." There was a ripple of unpleasant laughter. Kiyoshi held the kunai above Kakashi's eye again. Kakashi could feel the heat from it radiating in waves.

With a sudden flick of his wrist, Kiyoshi plunged the burning kunai into Kakashi's eye.

Kakashi screamed. And screamed. And screamed. White-hot agony filled his body and clouded his mind.

He could hear his flesh bubbling.

He could smell his skin burning.

He could hear himself screaming.

Kiyoshi pulled the kunai out, but the pain did not dissipate. Distantly, he could hear Kiyoshi talking.

"Let's see what his name is…" Kakashi felt a large hand slide into his shirt and pull out his dog tags.

"Saito Takeshi. Affiliation: Leaf. Blood type…"

The voice faded out as well as the scene. Kakashi immediately touched his right eye, it was still there. The burning pain was also gone. He opened his eyes, and saw Takeshi.

"That was a memory, wasn't Takeshi." He asked quietly.

"Yes Kakashi, it was. That was the first day. The first _hour_. That's what you abandoned me to. The only way I survived was that they got bored with me. It took them two weeks for them to become bored with me. Two weeks." He was trembling now.

"I did nothing to you, all I ever did was love you." Takeshi glared down at Kakashi, his jaw clenching. "You humiliated me," He hissed.

"That isn't important now Takeshi." Kakashi said taking the sudden change in subject in stride while his hand groped the ground for the fallen senbon.

Yet despite Kakashi's claims that that incident was not important, he still remembered it.

Kakashi had woken up as soon as he heard the ragged breathing behind him. He sensed Takeshi's chakra signature. Curious to see what he was doing, Kakashi feigned sleep and waited. Takeshi's breathing got closer, until he could feel the warm breath on his ear. He could feel fingertips gently trace his leg, hesitantly working their way up to rest on his hip. A soft moan escaped Takeshi's lips.

The cruel part of Kakashi's mind waited, wanting to see when Takeshi would chicken out. The hand resting on Kakashi's hip slid up and under his shirt, fingertips resting lightly on his stomach. Kakashi could feel them trembling. But Kakashi's amusement ended evaporated the instant he felt fingers trace the edge of his mask and begin to pull it down.

Instantly, Kakashi grabbed Takeshi's wrists and flipped him on his back with Kakashi looming over him. Takeshi's face was flushed, and he was breathing heavily. His eyes were wild and frightened.

"Now that," Kakashi quietly snarled, "Is going too far."

"I'm sorry," Takeshi choked out. "I wasn't thinking…"

"You never do." Kakashi replied coldly, his hot rage converted to frozen anger. "Go to sleep Takeshi." He said, releasing the younger man, and rolled back to his side. He thought he heard muffled sobs, but he ignored it, leaving Takeshi alone in his grief.

Kakashi jerked himself back into the present as his finger touched the cool metal of the senbon. Surreptitiously, he picked it up, and pushed it into is thumb. It would take five minutes for it to work.

Takeshi looked down on Kakashi, the lust unmistakable in his eyes.

"Yes, I suppose that is all unimportant now; after all, I've got you here, drugged and there's nothing you can do about it." He smiled unpleasantly down at Kakashi.

Abruptly, he swung one long leg over Kakashi's hip and straddled him. Kakashi struggled, but weakly, the antidotes still had not taken effect.

He slammed one hand down on Kakashi's chest, pressing him down against the forest floor; the other hand roughly shoved his shirt up, exposing his stomach. He immediately, moved on to unzip Kakashi's pants, and his own. He stopped for a second, leaning back and breathing heavily.

"First let's see what you're hiding behind that mask…" He reached for the edge of the mask, about to pull it down.

The whole time, Kakashi had been watching this with an almost detached observation. But when Takeshi reached to pull his mask down, he felt an overwhelming rush of sympathy for this poor broken man. Barely a man, Takeshi was only twenty. He had once been counted among one of Kohona's finest. And now here he was, unable to reconcile a boyhood infatuation that was inexplicably intertwined with his own downfall. He had been degraded into a disturbed, tormented, about to be rapist.

Suddenly, Kakashi stopped Takeshi's hand that was about to expose his face. And slowly, Kakashi revealed his own face to Takeshi. For a fleeting moment, Takeshi looked like that vulnerable boy he had once been.

"I am sorry Takeshi." Kakashi softly whispered. Leaning forwards, he gently kissed Takeshi. The kiss was at first soft and chaste. Slowly, Kakashi deepened it, desperately trying to convey complex emotions with a single, simple action. Trying to tell Takeshi that he was sorry for the way he treated him, sorry for what Takeshi had become. Words would not suffice in this apology, and all Kakashi had to go on was action. He threaded his hands through Takeshi's soft, brown hair, pulling him closer. Takeshi let out a soft shuddering breath, and pulled away, ending the kiss. Kakashi cupped Takeshi's perfect jaw, fingertips barely brushing his skin.

"Come back Takeshi," he said in that same tone, "Come back to Kohona."

Those words seemed to snap Takeshi out of his trance.

"Come back?" He snorted derisively, but there was an edge of panic to it. "I _can't_ come back. Look." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out several dogtags, and threw them on the ground.

"What did you think I was doing these past four years? I've become a missing-nin, taking contracts for anyone looking for a trained killer. On the side, however, I've been killing leaf-nins. I've killed so many Kakashi. They'll never let me back. Never."

Kakashi could feel the antidote working; it cleared his mind and lightened his limbs. He had to act. _Now. _

"You always underestimated your enemies Takeshi." He said, sighing.

Quickly, he activated a chidori, ignoring Takeshi's surprised gasp and look of terror on his face. Just before he slammed his fist through Takeshi's chest, a single memory flashed across his mind.

"Hello," The new recruit eagerly said. He was so young, about sixteen with a fresh face and soft brown eyes. He had the look of someone who passionately believed in all that he fought for. "I'm Saito Takeshi."

**-End-**


End file.
